It is not entirely clear why he agreed to speak given that the junta claims that he was set strict conditions, said to be that “he not talk about his detention in Bangkok on Wednesday, incite the people or criticise Beijing.” Officials said they set these conditions and warned him that if he broke them, “they would cut his connection…”.

We guess that he agreed because he was not planning to speak on any of these topics when he agreed to join the event, and that these issues existed mostly in the minds of authoritarian figures in Beijing and Bangkok.